Radiation particles such as cosmic rays and protons trapped in the Van Allen belts, and particles from solar particle events can cause errors in integrated circuits (ICs). Two common types of faults generally caused by radiation are Single Event Upsets (SEUs) and Single Event Transients (SETs). SEUs generally comprise an upset caused by electromagnetic effects of radiation particles on storage circuits. The storage circuits may comprise, for example, static random access memory (SRAM) bit cells, dynamic random access memory (DRAM) bit cells, register bits, flip-flops, or other storage circuits. SETs generally comprise voltage transients in combinational logic gates caused by radiation particle strikes. A voltage transient of an SET in a combinational logic gate may be latched by a storage circuit, thereby causing an SEU.
SEUs can cause incorrect output or incorrect operation of an IC. Semiconductor manufacturers generally are developing new lithographic processes with increasingly smaller feature sizes to improve electrical performance, reduce IC area and decrease power consumption. However, ICs made using advanced and small semiconductor processes are more sensitive to SETs and SEUs due to reduced node capacitance and lower operating voltages in the ICs. Silicon-on-Insulator (SOI) Complementary Metal-Oxide-Semiconductor (CMOS) technology semiconductor processes generally offer performance, area and power advantages over bulk CMOS technology semiconductor processes.